City and firefighters agree on advanced life support

Ending a two-year stalemate in negotiations, Chula Vista and its firefighters union have reached an agreement to provide more medical help faster to residents experiencing emergencies.

The decision happened to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the infamous terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the collectively bargained two-year memorandum of understanding, which defines a paramedic training scholarship program, continuing education requirements for paramedics, and the scope of practice and compensation for them. The agreement also creates an EMS coordinator position within the Fire Department. Ambulance fees will go up to cover the cost of additional training and compensation.

Talks began two years ago to get some of the city’s firefighters trained as paramedics so they could provide advanced life support, in addition to the basic life support provided by the city’s EMT-trained firefighters. About 85 percent of the Fire Department’s calls are for medical emergencies.

The special training for some firefighters is expected to cut patients’ wait time for the advanced support by two minutes, because the fire department usually arrives at an emergency within eight minutes on average, while ambulance provider American Medical Response gets there an average of two minutes later. AMR’s average response time is also two minutes slower than the national standard recommended by both the National Fire Protection Association and the American Heart Association.

“On a day to remember our public safety heroes, CV Council ok’d Advanced Life Support to trim valuable mins. from emergency response time,” Councilman Steve Castaneda posted to his Twitter account after the meeting Tuesday.

City Manager Jim Sandoval said that although the AMR agreement could be adjusted to increase response time, he prefers providing additional training for the city’s firefighters, because doing so would give the city more robust capabilities in the event of a disaster or major medical event.

Which firefighters would be paid, and how much, was the major sticking point during negotiations over the last two years. The final agreement approved Tuesday stipulates that firefighter paramedics will receive additional compensation amounting to 15 percent of their base pay, and fire engineers or captains who are trained as medics will receive an additional 7.5 percent. Firefighters, captains, engineers and battalion chiefs who are trained as EMTs will receive 1.5 percent more pay “for their additional duties required to transition the Fire Department from providing Basic Life Support (BLS) to Advanced Life Support (ALS),” states the council’s resolution.

The additional pay for non-paramedic firefighters is less than the 3 percent sought by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2180, but more than city leaders hoped to negotiate. The city’s original plan was not to provide additional compensation for the other firefighters, but union leaders argued that all fire department employees will have to do extra work to support the specially trained paramedics before AMR arrives on scene.

The money for the new advanced life support program will come “entirely through pass-through fees collected through the city agreement with American Medical Response.”

The pact depends on the City Council also approving an agreement with the ambulance provider in order to secure funding for the program.

“All program costs, including purchasing of equipment, training, personnel compensation and the EMS Nurse Administrator position are expected to be recovered out of transport rates and therefore cost neutral to the general fund,” the resolution reads.

The fire chief also has the authority to terminate the program at any time and for any reason, subject to council approval.